The short version: I kept drifting north and never stopped.

I'm originally from the west of France, but my path went: exchange semester in Kokkola, Finland (2022, where I saw my first northern lights and occasionally studied databases), three internships at DNB in Oslo between 2023 and 2025, another exchange in Sundsvall, Sweden, and then Capia up in Tromsø, where I've been since August 2025.

So there was no single dramatic moment. Each step was a bit further north than the last, and the Arctic Circle just happened to be where I landed. The Finland exchange is probably where it started: I liked the snow, the light, and the whole Nordic vibe enough to keep choosing it.

The exact "why Tromsø over another Norwegian city" reasoning isn't something I've written down publicly, so I can't give you the full internal monologue. But the pattern is clear enough: I kept picking the cold option and it kept working out.